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Who the **** cares? It doesn't hurt anyone. Smoking an herb does not justify locking someone in a cage for years, subjecting them to daily rapes, and taking $20,000 of the taxpayer's money per inmate per year.

Are you coming to bed?I can't. This is important.What?Someone is WRONG on the internet! -XKCD

You know how in Libya, Iraq, Kuwait, and soon to be Syria we went in and took out the regime that abused its citizens? We stated that people have a right to live in an environment that is at least livable. No gov't has a right to kill its own citizens, whether through bullets or bars. Even inmates, this might shock some, have a right to live in an environment that is safe. Once inmates start dying because of living conditions, it is time for the gov't to step in and take charge. No state has a right to kill inmates through horrible and awful living environments.

I fully support this and hope it catches on in other states as well. The cost of keeping an inmate incarcerated is almost 30,000 a year. You want to save money? Release some of these non-violent offenders. Not to mention, that puts more people to work, paying taxes, and not sucking them up as a number in a cell.

There are two problems with your argument.

1. We didn’t go into Iraq or Kuwait because the regimes were abusing their citizens. In both those cases the President received congressional approval. The invasion of Libya is unconstitutional. End of story. You might be able to argue that the feds have the right to intervene in situations where American Citizens are being mistreated but you have failed to make that argument.

2. Forcing the state to release tens of thousands of inmates would have done nothing to save the lives of those who were the subject of this lawsuit. This was about providing mental and medical health care to inmates, primarily mental health care. Two seriously mentally ill inmates committed suicide. Those are the deaths being sited.

"Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought."

John F. Kennedy

Originally Posted by Montecresto

It would seem that the constitution is just a god damn piece of paper, to be trotted out when expedient.

Who the **** cares? It doesn't hurt anyone. Smoking an herb does not justify locking someone in a cage for years, subjecting them to daily rapes, and taking $20,000 of the taxpayer's money per inmate per year.

If it was just "smoking an herb" I'd agree with you.

But it's not. And you know it, but you won't be honest cause you are a pro-drug type.

Climate, changes. It takes a particularly uneducated population to buy into the idea that it's their fault climate is changing and further political solutions can fix it.

It's just a bandaid - a temporary solution to a far deeper and much larger problems.

If the laws are corrupt they need to fix those - but just turning out convicted criminals to the streets isn't going to 'fix them' - in fact - they're worse off and many will just do something else to get back into the system.

A screaming comes across the sky.
It has happened before, but there is nothing to compare it to now.

Who the **** cares? It doesn't hurt anyone. Smoking an herb does not justify locking someone in a cage for years, subjecting them to daily rapes, and taking $20,000 of the taxpayer's money per inmate per year.

yeah, god forbid we actually hold people accountable for the choices they make

I'm sorry you feel I'm ignorant because I think criminals should actually

No. You're ignorant because you don't understand how the California prison system works and your first reaction was 'I wouldn't want to live in California'. It's not like they'll start releasing murderers and child molesters. They're going to release all the people who overcrowd the system. DUIs, drug users people out on fraud/counterfeit charges.

.. be treated as such.

Drug users are criminals because the system labels them as such. Not because there is anything inherently wrong with what they're doing. Drug laws are based on a moral agenda, nothing else. You just admitted it. You want to try drugs but you don't because they're illegal. Are there any other illegal activities which you may want to try but don't because of their legal status? Murder? Rape? Your statement is proof that drug laws are in essence based on the personal opinions of certain people and not a survivalist contract of any sort.

I say go for it, try the "touchy feely" approach to crime, let us know how that works out for you.

More proof of your ignorance. Most of the industrial world employs restorative justice. The US is still stuck in middle age level punishments. Whereas we should be encouraging small time criminals to turn away from crime we hit them with excessive sentences. Whereas we have chances to create a system where a person isn't bound to the mistakes they make in their youth, we have a system that constantly reminds convicts of their mistakes. Crime laws have only increased in the last 100 years. Is it any surprise that the 'tough on crime' laws have had the adverse effect of creating criminals?

Last edited by Hatuey; 05-23-11 at 05:01 PM.

I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality. - MLK

Now, do you have a problem with releasing some 19 year old who got caught with a bit of weed? What's the alternative? Keep him in an overcrowded jail with people who can teach him how to be a real criminal?

This is utter hogwash. 19 year old kids arenít in prison in CA for getting caught with a little weed.

"Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought."

John F. Kennedy

Originally Posted by Montecresto

It would seem that the constitution is just a god damn piece of paper, to be trotted out when expedient.